Cartridge-firing door lock



. Jan. 15 1924. J. DE JOHN CARTRIDGE FIRING DOR LOCK v Filec l June 18.. 1923 sheets-she et 1 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

A I :JM M

" gw aeamwz Jan. 15 1924.

J. DE JOHN CARTRIDGE FIRING DOOR LOCK Filed June 18. 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I N VEN TOR.

A TTORNEY.

Patented Jan. 15, 1924.

UNITED STATES JOSEPH DE JOHN, on DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

CARTRIDGE-FIRING noon LOCK.

Application filed June 18, 1923. Serial No. 646,022.

T all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JosnPH DE JOHN, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at Detroit, county of Wayne, State of a Michigan, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Cartridge-Firing Door Locks, and declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, such as will enable others" skilled in the art to which it pertainsto make and use the same, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to a lock, particularly adapted for use on motor vehicle doors such as branch bank cars, pay-roll cars and the like, with which is combined a cartridgefiring mechanism by means of which unauthorized entrance into the interior of such a car when properly locked may be prevented to the point of shooting the would-be intruder, and yet which may have its parts so adjusted by a control key as to be entirely harmless and function just as an ordinary lock of any suitable type. Any latch mechanism of such design as to lend i s co peratlve connection to a magazine and firing mecha nism may be employed without departure from the spirit of my invention, though, for

clearness and definiteness of description, I

will describe the various part with refer ence to the specific lockmechanism which I have developed in connection herewith.

In the drawings: I

Figure 1 is an elevational view of the door and surroundingportions ofa motor vehicle body, showing the positioning and possible functioning of my device with reference to any one approaching the same, orlocked in- 4.0 side the vehicle.

Figure 2 is a large scale elevational view of the inside or rear piece of the lock with such part as the latch and the cartridge magazine shown in their relative interior positions in dotted lines.

Figure 3 is a plan view from above.

Figure 4: is an elevational view of the parts carried within the latch shell, the supporting plate shown being the other side of the plate whose outer surface isshown in Figure 2.

Figure 5 is an edge elevational view,

partly in section, of the several parts of the lock, the approximate thickness of the completed door pillar as contrasted with the 'latch in projected position as shown in Figthickness of the latch shell alone being indicated by the dotted lines Z.

Figure 6 is a perspective view quite similar to the showing in Figure 4, designed to bring out particularly the shape and function of the pivoted cartridge-firing member. Figure 7 is a view of the preferred form of key which I employ.

Figure 8 is an elevational view of the escutcheon plate, showing both the key aperture and the discharge end of the firing barrel.

12 indicates a motorvehicle, whose closed body'13 is provided with a door 14:, which, in the case of a more or less armored bank 01' payroll car, is usually and preferably provided only with a small slit or peep-hole window 14. 'While protection agalnst theft or robbery is the basic purpose of vehicles thus constructed, it isobvious that there are many circumstances where, for convenience, quick and easy closing of the doors is desirable and entirely safe. On other occasions 1t may be desirable to lock the door from without, in such a way that, while the unauthorized actuation of its knob would result In thefiring' mechanism being actuated, a person whose business is with the car and who is provided with an'appropriate key, can, before actuating the knob, turn the firing parts to unactuatable position.

To this end, I locate in the door 14 the lock and latch mechanism 15,provided with the usual outside handle 16 and inside handle 17. These parts, which in their detail may follow any one of many forms, are

mounted on the shaft 20 and serve to actuate the latch piece 18 through the medium of the eccentric 19, which is carried on this partly squared Shaft '20; the latch piece 18,

of the plate 28 in such a way as to cooperate with the aperture 29 in limiting the possible path of travel of the latch to and fro to a horizontal line. The body of the latch is cut awayslightly as at 25 to permit the engagement therein of the leaf spring 26, which normally and yieldingly holds the ures2, 3, 1 and 5. p r p Just above the latch piece there is rotatto insure its regulated rotative movement,

un J and consequently to make certain the accurate registry of its several chambers wlth the firing barrel which will be hereinafter described. Projecting from the upper surface of the latch piece 18 is a dog or detent piece 33, which, on the forward or outwardly projecting movement of the latch, yieldingly rides against the ratched peripheral surface of the magazine 31, whereas on leach retractile or indrawing movement of the latch, its point engages one of the ratched edges or shoulders 34 of themagazine, to effect its rotation through the angle desired for moving ,the magazine far enough to effect the registry of the next cartridge chamber with the firing barrel. in place of the one that has just been exploded.

Projecting outwardly from the face of the plate 28 is the projectile barrel or tube 40 in parallel relation to the knob shaft 20, and of course sufficiently close thereto so that the body of anyone standing in ones usual position for actuating the outer handle 16 to open the door, would be in the direct axial line thereof, so that if'the person thus attempting to open the door is a wouldbe thief, he will be shot accordingly; of course if the frightening only of such a would-be intruder is desired. a blank cartridge could be used instead of a ball cartridge. The thickness of the vehicle door pillar as ordinarily built up, and as indicated by the dotted lines Z in Figure 5, is such that little if any of the length of the barrel would project outside to attract attention to the un usual character of: the lock. Closely .adja cent this barrel muzzle and the outer handle 16 is the'key stem 41., into whose kerfed end 42 the correspondingly shaped blade 43 of the key 43 is adapted to be inserted for looking or unlocking the several parts. In the construction here illustrated (see Figure this key stem in its unlocked position has its pin 44', near its inner end, positioned just outside the plate 28 and in line witha slotted extension of the aperture 27 in the plate 127, though when this locking .pin is actuated and pushed slightly inwardly, the pin 44 is then lockingly positioned just inside the shell .or plate 27. The outer ends of the tube and key stem 41, which lie practicallyflush with the outer surface of the door pillar, indicated by the dotted line Z in Figure 5, maybe covered by the correspondingly perforated escutcheon plate 45.

Through a slot 30 in the shell or plate 27 projects the horizontal branch 47 of the bell crank lever 46, whose vertical branch 48 lies against the outer surface of the shell pla e-2 and censti utes h ring ham w eut dange of iring th eartridge, as

carrying near its upper end the firing pin 48. This bell crank lever is pivoted at 50 in the shell 27 in such position relatively to the several cartridge chambers in the magazine 31, that the impact of the firing pin 48 against the cartridge then in registry with the barrel 4O explodes its cap. Between the point of pivoting 50 and its outer end the horizontal branch 47 of the bell crank passes through a slotted portion 36 of the latch 24, which, as brought out in Figure 4, is of sufiicient breadth or height to permit a limited upward and downward movement of the branch 47, and thus allow the cartridgafiring action of the branch 48 i to take place, and of appreciable horizontal extent, to provide for the to and fro movement of the latch 24. The lower edge of this slot is provided. with the inclined surface 37, which, as the latch is drawn in wardly, rides against the under surface of the bell crank lever branch 47, thus raising it upwardly and in consequence .drawing back the firing pin branch 48; when the tip of the incline 37 reaches and passes the horizontal branch 47, it is drawn sharply downward into the space 38 by the pull of the spring 39, one end of which is anchored in the shell plate 27 while the other is connected to the horizontal branch 47 of the bell crank lever. This causes the sharp inward movement of the branch 48 carrying the firing pin against the cap of the cartridge then in registry with it and with the inner end of the firing barrel 40.

If, however, it is desired to lock the firing mechanism against possible working, even though the latch be actuated, the key stem 41, with its pin 44 still in registry with the slot 29, is forced inwardly until its inner end engages and forces inwardly the firing pin branch 48 of the bell crank lever, and when the pin 27- has reached the plane of the inner surface of the plate 27, the stem 41 is actuated through a quarter turn so as to engage thereagainst, thus being locked against outward lengthwise'movement', and consequently holding the firing hammer 48 against actuation by the movement of the latch, since this swing of the ten crank le ver has-left the horizontal branch 47 in the clear upper portion of the slot 36, where the to and fro movement of the incline 37 cannot reachit. The key stem 41, in moving against the firing pin branch 48, passes through the horizontal slot .52 in thelatch 24, which is thus left free to move to and fro for its ordinary latching movement, regardless of the temporary positioning of the stem 41 therethrough.

To care for the circumstance of .those within the body of the vehicle desiring to open the door when the key-controlled stem has e ef n un o ked, e1 fi ing, po tion,

bell crank lever, thus holding the firing pin.

branch 48 away from possible contact with the cartridges in the magazine. After the door has been opened, the lever 56 may be gently restored to its inactive position,

against the otherwise sharp pull of the spring 26, by holding the lever back against other than very slow and gentle retractile movement.

I have shown, at 59 inv Figure 2, a pivoted plate whose loweri portion. is curved complementarily to a cut away portion 61 in the magazine covering portion 60 of the shell 27.

When this plate is swung to open position by manual lift upon its free end 62, the end of the magazine is exposed for filling its several chambers with cartridges or for the removal of such cartridge shells as have been discharged.

vWhat I claim is:

1. In a lock, incombination with a latch member and an actuating handle therefor, a cartridge-firing mechanism normally operable thereby, and means adapted to be actuated from either side of the door carrying said lock, whereby said last-named mechanism. may be selectively held from possible response to, the actuative movement normally communicated tot it by the manual operation of the handle.

2. In a lock, the combination, with a latch member and an actuating handle. therefor,

the handle, means for regulatably rendering said mechanism proof against actuation, and key-controlled means for selectively rendering all of said parts incapable, of manual actuation.

3. In combination with a shell, a manually actuatable latch piece limitedly movable therein and through one edge thereof, an ammunition magazine rotatably supported within said shell in position to be normally actuated by the movement of said latch tosuccessively place its several firing chame bers in registry with a suitably positioned aperture in one side of said shell, a pivoted firing member also actuatable to firing position by the movement of said latch, and means regulatable from either side of the shell whereby the response of said firing member to the releasing movement of the latch may be selectively controlled.

4. In combination with an enclosing shell, a latch member capable of limited horizontal movement therein, a firing lever adapted to be actuated by the movement of said latch -member, a magazine adaptedto be actuated synchronously with said firing lever by the movement of said latch member, and means for regulating the action of the firing mechanism under a variety of circumstances and from different relative positions.

In testimony whereof, I sign this specification in the presence of two witnesses.

JOSEPH DE JOHN. Witnesses:

EMANUEL ALFRED DE J OHN, WILLIAM M. SWAM. 

